Lighthouse Games was established by Gavin Raeburn in 2022 and is currently working on a racing franchise.

The smoke is rising. The clock is ticking. Watch the first teaser for The Lost Bus, Paul Greengrass’s intense new film based on real events! The VFX are made by:beloFX (VFX Supervisor: Russell Bowen)CinesiteILMRISE (VFX Supervisor: Oliver Schulz)Outpost VFX (VFX Supervisor: John McLaren)Vitality Visual Effects (VFX Supervisor: Jiwoong Kim)Mist VFX (VFX Supervisor: Sasi Kumar)Host VFX The Production VFX Supervisor is Charlie Noble.The Production VFX Producer is Gavin Round. Director: Paul GreengrassRelease Date: Fall 2025 (Apple TV+) Screenshot © Vincent Frei – The Art of VFX – 2025 The post The Lost Bus appeared first on The Art of VFX.

Subscribe to Nintendo Life on YouTube817kUpdate [Thu 5th Jun 2025, 9am]: Lucky Alex-from-Nintendo-Life got his hands on Switch 2 a handful of hours before the rest of us (hey, some of us are still waiting for the postman to arrive!) and invites you to take a tour of the new console's Home screen and menus in the video above. It's all comfortingly familiar, that's for sure, but the speed! Join the 20-minute tour as he explores the system menu's ins-and-outs, and let us know your thoughts in the usual place. Now, back to peering out the front window for any sign of Pat...Original Story: With discoverability on the bloated Switch eShop causing headaches for players and devs alike, you can sometimes forget how slow the shopping experience on Switch can be. Likewise, though Nintendo hasn't bogged down the main system menu with ornamental additions, navigating the system menus is hardly a snappy experience, either. Well, it seems like Switch 2 is going to be a big upgrade in that department, as evidenced in this first look at the new Switch 2 eShop (which is now live) and the system's menus, courtesy of VGC editor-in-chief and lucky blighter Andy Robinson, who took delivery of a Switch 2 earlier today. Subscribe to Nintendo Life on YouTube817k On Bluesky, Robinson noted that after the system transfer, all your Switch 1 games appear there, ready and waiting to download. As you can see, booting Switch 2 is a lot like booting Xbox Series for the first time was - all of your Switch 1 games are already there, waiting for you to redownload (if you did the system transfer during setup)— Andy Robinson (@andyrobinson.bsky.social) 2025-06-04T13:33:48.745Z Perhaps we're just used to the now-soupy speed of an eight-year-old console, but seeing the speed of the screen transitions in the video at the top of the page brought a smile to our face. Now let's hope they can do something about the slop. We'll be bringing you our own in-depth S2 coverage just as soon as we're able. Not long to go now! Update: We got one! *slams alarm bell, Ghostbusters-style* Let us know below your impressions of the new eShop and Switch UI experience (which looks an awful lot like the old eShop and Switch UI experience, just a damned-sight quicker off the mark, no?). Which do you prefer? A step in the right direction [source youtube.com, via bsky.app] Share:36 7 Gavin first wrote for Nintendo Life in 2018 before joining the site full-time the following year, rising through the ranks to become Editor. He can currently be found squashed beneath a Switch backlog the size of Normandy. Hold on there, you need to login to post a comment... Related Articles Nintendo Appears To Have Updated Mario Kart World's Switch 2 File Size Some other file sizes have also changed Site News: We've Got A Switch 2 Come watch us unbox Pokémon Scarlet And Violet Version 4.0.0 Is Now Live, Here Are The Full Patch Notes The free Switch 2 upgrade has arrived PSA: Switch 2 Updates For Multiple First-Party Switch Games Are Now Available Updates for Mario Wonder, 3D All-Stars and much more!

Seven days It's basically good in all possible ways I guess you could say I "yearn for the mines" now Jim Norman, Staff Writer The weather is looking good this weekend and next week promises a lot of gaming, so I'm planning to take it easy on the playtime front. Old Skies has got me back on a point-and-click hit, and I have some train journeys to make, so I might crack out Broken Sword: Shadow of the Templars on GBA to keep me going through the inevitable delays and jam-packed services. But otherwise, a bit of sun, a bit of BBQ, and a bit of constantly checking my bank account for confirmation that my Switch 2 payment has finally been taken. Ollie Reynolds, Staff Writer I’m still tinkering with The Hundred Line here and there, but I must admit that with the Switch 2 mere days away at this point, I’m spending a bit less time gaming in general at the moment; just to give myself a bit of breathing space before the avalanche hits. I read a lot though, so at the moment, I’ve got two books on the go: Michael Crichton’s Jurassic Park (via a stunning Folio Society edition I bought a while back) and The Road to Jonestown by Jeff Guinn on my Kindle. I find a nice combination of fiction and non-fiction is the way to go most of the time! Have a good one, folks. Subscribe to Nintendo Life on YouTube814kWatch on YouTube Gonçalo Lopes, Contributor It really happened last weekend: Closure for a story that was left unfinished a decade ago. Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition is most certainly one of my desert island games, and the possibility of a proper sequel is just too sweet to ignore. After all, Monolith has been quietly working on something these past years, right? My physical Mobile Suit Gundam SEED: Battle Destiny Remastered copy arrived, and since I never owned the game on Vita, this is all-new content for yours truly. Other physical copies arriving include the amazing Star Overdrive and the SEGA Dreamcast-fuelled extravaganza known as Capcom Fighting Collection 2. This could very well be the best Capcom compilation yet, my arcade stick will surely see a lot of action this weekend. My game of the week is… the waiting game! For these past few weeks, and to ensure that all goes smoothly on the 5th, I have executed my plan to the letter. The new TV is hooked up and ready for the arrival of the Switch 2. If my next week’s entry is just me pasting “Mario Kart World!!!” repeatedly, you will know it all worked out. Alana Hagues, Deputy Editor I caved in. I have Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time ready to… steal my time. The Switch 2 version launching next week pushed me over the edge. Confession: I never played the 3DS game, so this will be my first taste of Fantasy Life, which honestly sounds like a combination of things made specifically for me. The other thing Fantasy Life will steal time from (probably) is Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown, which I’ve just started and I’m having a blast. If the weather is nice where you are, get out there, because next weekend, many of us will have a Switch 2 in hand, and sunshine is the last thing we’ll want. Enjoy! Subscribe to Nintendo Life on YouTube814kWatch on YouTube Kate Gray, Contributor I'm playing Fantasy Life i like my life depends on it. Which, in a way, it does. Because it's about Lives. Do you get it? DO YOU? DO YOUUUU???? On the opposite end of the cheerful/morose spectrum, I finished Expedition 33, but it's such a delightful game that I don't want to leave. Luckily, there's TONS of post-ending content to mop up like a greedy little child licking gravy off the plate, and a New Game+, although that's a significant investment when I have so many other games to play. However, I know that all the dialogue and scenes that baffled me in my first playthrough (and there are many) will gain new and horrifying meaning in a second playthrough, plus I'll get to keep all my hard-earned Pictos... ...but I really should get around to playing Hundred Line. Uchikoshi and Kodaka? Zero Escape and Danganronpa? It's a wonder I haven't played it yet. I love a murder game! Gavin Lane, Editor This time next week, Mario Kart World will be old news and we'll be bleary-eyed and knee-deep in Knockout Tours. So, before the excitement of a new console launch, I'm looking to chill the beans way, way down. As I have over the past few weeks, I'll be hitting 51 Clubhouse Games with the kids once more (I never realised how long games of Ludo could last), but I also intend to finally tuck into to Thank Goodness You're Here, a game I don't think the 4K output of the Switch 2 will improve. Have a great one, everyone - we'll speak again when the next generation has arrived. Subscribe to Nintendo Life on YouTube814kWatch on YouTube That's what we have planned for the weekend, but what about you? Let us know in the following poll which games you're planning on booting up over the next couple of days. What are you playing this weekend (31st May/1st Jun)? (43 votes) Related Games See Also

May 28, 20257 min readWhy Is NASA Shuttering This Iconic Institute in New York City?Since 1966 NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies has been at the forefront of Earth and planetary science from its location in upper Manhattan. Now a Trump administration directive is ejecting its scientists to parts unknownBy Christopher Cokinos edited by Lee BillingsPhoto of the building housing NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies, at the corner of Broadway and West 112th Street in New York City. Cirofono via Flickr (CC BY 2.0)In the early 1980s, then real estate developer Donald Trump famously tried to evict a group of New York City residents from a rent-controlled building that he wanted to replace with a luxury high-rise. The tenants eventually beat back the plan.Today President Trump is having more luck with NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS).Ensconced on six floors of a building on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, GISS has been a small-but-mighty source of world-changing scientific research for more than a half-century. NASA scientists first moved into the building, which another federal agency leases from GISS’s institutional partner, Columbia University, in 1966. Last month, at the behest of the Trump administration, NASA officials told GISS it had to move out before the end of May. In response, more than 100 staffers have abandoned the facility, leaving its tastefully decorated halls and offices littered with boxes, papers and packing tape.On supporting science journalismIf you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.Although it may be best known to the public indirectly (its building often appeared in the hit sitcom Seinfeld as the site of “Monk’s Café”), GISS has been a leader in Earth science and climate research for decades. The work within its halls was crucial for sparking broader public awareness of anthropogenic climate change in the 1980s and has contributed to cutting-edge weather forecasting and multiple interplanetary missions, as well as the underpinnings of the past, present, and future habitability of Earth and other worlds.Yet now that rich legacy and prospects for further breakthrough research are at risk, GISS personnel say, jeopardized by the White House’s demands for notionally better government efficiency. Ironically, however, the effective eviction of GISS may well result in more costs to taxpayers rather than less.A Federal Mandate to “Institutionally Couch Surf”GISS itself has not been disbanded. But without a physical home and under the looming threat of a White House–proposed 50 percent cut to the entirety of NASA’s science for the 2026 federal fiscal year, the Institute’s future can only be called uncertain. Many of its staff are now operating as academic nomads—working remotely and scrambling to secure office space at other locations in the city.“We’re being told to institutionally couch surf,” says one senior GISS researcher, who, like many others in this story, asked not to be identified because of the possibility of reprisal.In April Makenzie Lystrup, director of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, which technically includes GISS, e-mailed GISS personnel about the eviction, explaining it was part of White House efforts to review government leases.Sources familiar with the situation, however, tell Scientific American the termination was specifically set in motion earlier this spring by an employee of the U.S. DOGE Service (a newly minted federal entity that was, until recently, led by the world’s richest man, Elon Musk). That employee, the sources say, approached NASA administrators, who ultimately agreed to the move out of fear of losing their jobs.A GISS scientist recounts the sudden events: “On Wednesday afternoon of April 23, NASA GISS workers were informed that there would be an all-hands Thursday morning meeting (the next day) with folks from HQ ... the topic of which was not mentioned,” the scientist says. “The next morning, we were promptly told ... the decision was made to vacate our building by the end of May and that the decision was made as part of a broader DOGE assessment of federal leased spaces. They also mentioned that this decision was made by NASA within just a few days.” According to this scientist, the move deadline changed several times. This account is supported by others who spoke to Scientific American.Multiple GISS personnel consulted for this story say there will be no cost savings because the $3-million-per-year lease on the space remains in place through 2031. That lease is between Columbia and the General Services Administration (GSA), a federal agency that is tasked with providing workspace for some governmental employees. Even if a new tenant is found, the lease is likely to remain in force because terminating it will result in major financial penalties per the leasing agreement. The lease, they say, is about half the current commercial rate in New York City, and for now, the GSA continues to pay rent.“Columbia is fully committed to our longstanding collaboration with NASA and the scientific research at the Goddard Institute for Space Studies,” said Millie Wert, a spokesperson for the university, when reached for comment for this article.The suddenness of the move has stunned GISS researchers and personnel, one of whom calls the decision “idiocy.”“One hundred and thirty scientists must move all their books and office equipment,” the senior researcher told Scientific American shortly after GISS received the eviction notice. “A library and $400,000 in tech must be moved out. We also have historical items here: Where are we supposed to put them?” Much of this material is reportedly going into storage at warehouse space in New Jersey.Another staffer adds that “we have no information about what will be discarded.... Ironically, many of us decided not to accept new furniture [recently] because our existing 1950s furniture is perfectly good—and that would save the taxpayer money.”As GISS employees packed their belongings, they saw workers dismantling a recently renovated conference room and a brand-new security system, according to documents obtained by Scientific American from the departing staff. The documents also note that computers and servers are “at risk of damage while being moved in haste.”Two protest letters against the eviction that were sent from the International Federation of Professional & Technical Engineers (IFPTE) to particular congressional representatives and senators, respectively, noted that a recent renovation of GISS is nearly complete at a cost of more than $6 million. In the letter to members of the House of Representatives, IFPTE called the dispersal of staff and equipment “blatantly wasteful financially.”An Institutional “Diaspora”GISS is globally renowned for tracking and predicting climate conditions with GISTEMP (GISS Surface Temperature Analysis), along with other datasets and modeling that involve planetary science beyond Earth and that are focused on weather, fire and agriculture on our world. GISS also has played roles in missions across the solar system, the discovery of the big bang’s all-sky afterglow, and more.According to firebrand climate researcher and former GISS director James Hansen, now retired from NASA, the institute was deliberately located in New York City because physicist Robert Jastrow, its founder, wanted a NASA center that was not a closed campus. Being in the heart of a city with academia and industry outside the door has been an asset to GISS, according to Hansen and others. The process of developing GISS began modestly, with “Jastrow ... interviewing people in an office over a furniture store in Silver Spring, Md.,” Hansen says. “The ‘GISS Formula’ ... was to have a minimum government staff, which allowed the research focus to change with time as the need dictated.”One such focus was the high levels of carbon dioxide on Venus, which Hansen was studying decades ago. That led to his trailblazing work on what was then called “the greenhouse effect,” including his famous testimony before Congress on human-driven climate change in 1988.Climate modeling, says a different senior GISS researcher, “is what drove the development of supercomputing, [and] we continue to use the same Earth climate modeling to understand Venus and Mars and constrain their potential habitability.” From climate feedback loops to ocean heat transport, GISS is at the center of important science, its researchers say.But the GISS dispersal, along with other disruptions, such as frozen grants and proposed science budget cuts at NASA, the National Science Foundation and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, among other agencies, “represent a monumental step backwards,” a GISS scientist says, “not just for understanding a climate that will still change due to human activities ... but also for operational weather prediction that saves lives due to forecast and warnings, pollution and contamination assessments.”GISS’s current director Gavin Schmidt tells Scientific American that “the issue of whether to do something with the GISS lease goes back a year or two due to a shift in how these things are paid for at NASA.... [The agency] commissioned an external panel to look at [this], and they concluded (last year) that the status quo was the most efficient plan. I am not privy to who decided to raise that idea again in recent weeks.”Other GISS researchers complain that, to their knowledge, no administrators above Schmidt went to bat for keeping the institute in its building.“I think there was pushback initially at HQ,” Schmidt says, “but by the time we were told at GISS, it was a done deal.”Concerns now include the lack of in-person interaction and a general loss of support for postdoctoral researchers. “It’s pretty dire,” one scientist says.“I’m now watching people who have dedicated their entire careers to understanding the most pressing issues of our time deciding whether they might have to leave the place they’ve built their life around,” says Alessandra Quigley, an early-career scientist, who is affiliated with GISS. “This is the only positive takeaway I can find: the fact this administration cares so much about ending climate science just demonstrates how important [this science] is, and I hope the public comes to see that, too.”While Lystrup called GISS’s work “critical” and promised support during the transition in her e-mail, which was obtained by Scientific American , Schmidt says that “people are shell-shocked and anxious—and that is not conducive to doing high-quality science.”He adds that “we will nonetheless push through and try and make the GISS diaspora function as well as it can. We have been contacted with many offers to help.”Asked for comment by Scientific American, a NASA spokesperson referred to the situation as “part of the administration’s government-wide review of leases to increase efficiency.” While NASA “seeks and evaluates options for a new space for the GISS team,” the spokesperson added, the institute’s work remains “significant” and “critical.”But at least one GISS researcher isn’t convinced. Angry that the agency didn’t do more to stop the eviction and even had tasked officials with frequent check-ins to ensure the move was underway, the researcher says, simply, “NASA is the new thug.”

As Codemasters and EA get ready for the upcoming F1 25, senior creative director Lee Mather, creative director Gavin Cooper and producer Si Lumb answered some of our burning questions, including about improvements to visuals and racing physics thanks to the studio’s use of LiDAR technology to scan race tracks. To begin with, what are the biggest changes that are coming to F1 25? Gavin: There are lots of big changes coming to F1 25 that we’re very excited to share with our players, starting with fan-favorite My Team mode receiving its largest update since its introduction, My Team now invites players to take control as the Owner of their Formula One team, placing more emphasis on managing the fates of both drivers in the team, alongside the team itself. Braking Point is also back, with Konnersport returning as an established team on the grid and battling for championships. For the first time, players can extend their Konnersport experience through other game modes. Once they’ve finished Braking Point, they can also take the team into Driver Career or My Team. Iconic Edition players can also experience post-launch gameplay chapters inspired by the film, featuring the APXGP team from the upcoming movie, F1. We’ve also incorporated LIDAR technology to more circuits to enhance authenticity and realism. In a first for the official F1 games, players can also race around Silverstone, Zandvoort, and the Red Bull Ring in a reverse track layout adding a new dimension to the racing experience. "Braking Point is also back, with Konnersport returning as an established team on the grid and battling for championships." How much will the LiDAR scanning of tracks affect the second-to-second driving gameplay? Lee: LIDAR-scanned circuits offer clear benefits to players of all skill levels. For those who are detail-oriented and appreciate the intricacies and nuances of a race track, LIDAR provides an unprecedented level of accuracy in track ribbon and curb placement. But the advantages go beyond that. All players benefit from the precise recreation of the environment surrounding the track. From grandstands to terrain, whatever players see in real life and on TV is faithfully represented in-game. What sets our LIDAR circuits apart is that the data is captured during an actual F1 race weekend, ensuring the most accurate and up-to-date representation possible. How will the latest chapter of Braking Point tie in to the stories we’ve seen in the previous games? Gavin: The latest chapter of Braking Point will tie into the previous chapters, as we continue to follow the Konnersport Team featuring Aiden Jackson, Devon Butler, and Callie Mayer. Braking Point, first introduced in 2021, centered around Aiden Jackson, a rookie determined to make a name for himself while facing off against the ruthless Devon Butler, a driver willing to do whatever it took to succeed. The story continued in F1 23, with the debut of the fictional team Konnersport and the introduction of Callie Mayer, the first woman to win the F2 Championship. In this sequel, the once-feared Devon Butler saw his perspective on the sport shift, creating an opportunity for Callie to break into F1. After two tough seasons, the team made significant progress, improving their position in the sport and setting the stage for the upcoming F1 25. Nonetheless, players will be able to enjoy the story and have a complete experience regardless of whether they have played the previous games. What kind of features and enhancements can one expect in My Team? Gavin: My Team sees a host of new features and improvements this year, with one of the most significant changes being a shift in how roles are defined. Previously, players took on the dual responsibilities of both Team Owner and Driver, a setup that isn’t typical of the sport. To reflect the real-world structure more accurately, the mode has been reimagined so that players now focus solely on the responsibilities of being a Team Owner. This revamped approach brings a greater emphasis on managing both of the team’s drivers. During race weekends, players can now choose which driver to put on the track. The progression system has also been refined — Owners will work to boost their team’s Fan Rating by meeting objectives and winning high-stakes Rivalries against competing teams. Off the track, team operations are now run from a completely redesigned Team HQ — a dynamic environment that expands in size, staff, and activity as the team’s reputation grows. Decisions around workforce size, development expenses, and facility upkeep will be crucial, with owners needing to carefully manage resources to stay within the cost cap. Additionally, Research and Development have been split into distinct branches, giving players more strategic freedom over part production and deployment. For example, producing just one part from a new upgrade package is quicker, but choosing which driver receives it first can impact their morale and influence future contract negotiations. "To reflect the real-world structure more accurately, [My Team] has been reimagined so that players now focus solely on the responsibilities of being a Team Owner." How much will the new sponsor decals feature affect income in My Team? Gavin: In My Team you’re limited in terms of how many sponsor decals you can put on your car. That limit is based on your Fan Rating, so as you increase your Fan Rating (by completing team accolades, winning rivalries with competitor teams, or performing at GP weekends), your team will become more prestigious and be able to get more sponsorship – so more decals on your car. Each decal slot you fill earns you cash, but there is a drop-off in effectiveness as you add more. We devised a system to push you to wanting more decals on your car, especially as a fledgling team struggling to stay afloat. But as your livery gets more and more populated, we didn’t want to stomp all over players’ creativity by essentially forcing them to stick a new decal on every time a slot unlocked. Those later slots won’t earn you as much as your earlier ones, and if you would rather retain your design, the extra income you miss out on won’t be game-breaking. At the start of the game, you’ll only have access to a limited range of sponsors, but you can unlock more by scheduling the sponsor discovery activity between race weekends. All of this is separate to your title sponsor, which works quite differently. Your title sponsor is signed for an entire season and represents a significant chunk of your income. That sponsor is inherently displayed on the car, and building a relationship with that sponsor can, over time, unlock further decal variants and even a special car livery designed around that sponsor. Figuring out how to balance the decision between sticking with a title sponsor you have loyalty to versus jumping to a new sponsor that may be more lucrative is just a part of what you’ll have to do as Team Owner. Are interviews coming back in F1 25? Gavin: Interviews are making a return in Braking Point, where the fictional characters like Aiden and Callie allow us to deliver fully voiced, context-specific responses that feel authentic and well-integrated with the story. The storyline allows us to create tailored interviews based on whether the driver suffered a crash, a win or a key moment between rivals. Thanks to new tech like Nvidia’s Audio2Face, these interviews also now look more lifelike, much closer to what you’d expect from a real TV broadcast. Career Mode presents a tougher challenge. With so many possible outcomes and storylines, it’s hard to craft interviews that feel personal and meaningful. Figuring out what’s relevant in any given moment, not just in a race, but across an evolving season is a complex task. And without voice acting for official drivers, responses would lose the impact that makes interviews worthwhile. So while interviews won’t feature in Career Mode this time, we’re keeping the door open for the future, ensuring the mode evolves in a way that supports them properly. "The storyline allows us to create tailored interviews based on whether the driver suffered a crash, a win or a key moment between rivals." Are there any plans to bring classic F1 cars? Lee: While they are not in this year’s game, it is always an ongoing conversation. The return of Braking Point 3, My Team, the LIDAR updated and reverse tracks have been the focus areas for this year’s game. What kind of improvements have you made to the handling and physics this time around? Lee: A number of changes have been made to how cars feel in F1 25. The core handling model was developed using player feedback from F1 23 and F1 24. We invited sim racers and content creators to the studio in November to play an early build and refine the model to create a balanced and stable platform with reduced understeer and a more compliant rear under acceleration. Some of the main improvements include: Balancing the transition between mechanical and aero balance to ensure the cars feel exciting and dynamic across all speeds. Updating the gearbox and transmission to deliver seamless gear changes that don’t upset the car’s balance. Applying insights from the F1 Sim Racing tournament to fine-tune ERS, DRS, and slipstream behaviour, promoting effective overtaking in both single and multiplayer racing. Modifying tyre wear values to enable more varied tyre strategies, offering teams greater flexibility in how they run their race. With the wide range of setup options in F1 25, players can also fine-tune the car to match their driving style. Can you talk us through the various customization options available as far as car set up goes? Lee: Car setup in F1 25 offers advanced players the opportunity to tailor the car’s feel and performance to better suit their preferences. Creating a fast car isn’t just about raw performance; it’s also about player confidence and the ability to drive and race consistently. Players can adjust a wide range of setup areas to impact the car’s feel and performance. Fuel load can be adjusted, which directly impacts the car’s weight. Aerodynamics can be fine-tuned, but players should be mindful of how these adjustments affect ride height and suspension setup, which can also be modified. Additionally, transmission, brakes, and tyre pressures are open for adjustment, providing players with the tools they need to find those vital tenths of a second. With Path Tracing, how big of a leap in visuals can we expect in F1 25 over 24? Lee: Path Tracing in F1 25 significantly improves realism, offering more accurate reflections, shadows, and ambient lighting for supported PCs. Thanks to Path Tracing, the light now follows every bounced path, including that from indirect lighting and multiple reflections. Shade, light, and colours dynamically shift as they would in real-life, whether you’re racing under the thousands of lights in Bahrain or navigating the castle section in Baku at sunset. If you have a PC capable of experiencing it, Path Tracing is the most realistic simulation of light on track that we’ve ever delivered. With it, everything looks exactly like it would on the track, making the venue feel more authentic. This is particularly important for true-to-life realism in sports games. Outside of Path Tracing, we have made tonemapping improvements to create a more dramatic effect across all weather conditions throughout the game, and the track surface shader has been updated to more accurately reflect the real-life circuits. Off the asphalt, LIDAR has also helped in making trees and foliage better match the type, size and shape of their real-life counterparts, with new additions such as cherry blossom added to the track in Suzuka. "If you have a PC capable of experiencing it, Path Tracing is the most realistic simulation of light on track that we’ve ever delivered." When it comes to the console versions, will there be enhancements exclusive to the PS5 Pro? Lee: F1 25 benefits from all the technical enhancements that elevate visual quality, gameplay, and player immersion we delivered when the PlayStation®5 Pro was released last November. This includes: Upgraded Quality Mode, now featuring on-track Ray Tracing using PSSR. We leveraged Sony’s PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution (PSSR) to include more Ray Traced techniques on track for increased photorealism while maintaining the 4K/60Hz target. Performance Mode now runs at 4K (on 120Hz screens only). Players choosing this high frame rate will enjoy a crisp, smooth experience and extra clarity from the increased resolution. A new Resolution Mode delivers 8K/60Hz (on 8K screens only). Resolution mode also features Ray Traced Dynamic Diffuse Global Illumination (DDGI) on track. EGO’s full suite of RT DDGI, AO, reflection and shadow effects are enabled in 8K/30Hz for cutscenes, replay Flashback and photo modes. We’re always exploring new ways to optimise and innovate on all platforms, and our commitment to delivering the best possible experience for our console players remains as strong as ever – and this year for F1 25, we have included splitscreen mode running at double the frame rate, so couch competitors get that Codemasters 60 Hz signature without compromise. Are there any plans to bring the F1 series to the Nintendo Switch 2? Lee: There are no plans at the moment to bring F1 25 to the Nintendo Switch. How vital will technologies like PSSR play in pushing visual fidelity further on PS5 Pro? Si: We were delighted that the PlayStation®5 Pro featured such a well-tuned upscaler in PSSR. For a while in graphics technologies, the upscalers have allowed rendering engines to push more fidelity into a lower resolution “input” image, and then benefit from the AI models to take those to incredible looking large resolution frames, upon which we can then apply post effects and tuning. For PS5 Pro, we originally weren’t going to use PSSR on F1 24, as we were trying to de-risk our approach. However, when testing it, it was so good at transforming from the input to high resolution output that we could actually use double resolution Ray Traced reflections as input and rely on the AI to give us a much higher quality image. It’s something we couldn’t have done with our own TAA upscaler. As we go into F1 25 with broadly the same solution as F1 24, we get the benefit of that same quality, just with far more LIDAR tracks to see the increased density and uplift that the Quality mode provides. Moving forward, and without anything specific to announce, we look forward to exploring what other areas of our title we can leverage technologies like PSSR to achieve new targets of visual quality on console hardware.

Codemasters has revealed that the studio has been a big fan of Sony’s PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution technology – more commonly referred to as PSSR. In a recent interview with us, producer Si Lumb has said that PSSR is a “well-tuned upscaler” that allows the studio to push graphical fidelity even harder for the PS5 Pro version of the upcoming F1 25. “We were delighted that the PlayStation 5 Pro featured such a well-tuned upscaler in PSSR,” he said. Lumb went on to explain how AI-based supersampling like we see in technologies like Nvidia’s DLSS and AMD’s FSR typically works, and how the PS5 Pro sets itself apart by being able to transform images it was given into high-resolution outputs. Lumb also revealed that, thanks to PSSR, the studio was able to double the resolution of ray traced reflections while leaving it up to PSSR to up the image quality while maintaining steady frame rates. “For a while in graphics technologies, the upscalers have allowed rendering engines to push more fidelity into a lower resolution ‘input’ image, and then benefit from the AI models to take those to incredible looking large resolution frames, upon which we can then apply post effects and tuning,” Lumb explained. “For PS5 Pro, we originally weren’t going to use PSSR on F1 24, as we were trying to de-risk our approach.“ “However, when testing it, it was so good at transforming from the input to high resolution output that we could actually use double resolution Ray Traced reflections as input and rely on the AI to give us a much higher quality image. It’s something we couldn’t have done with our own TAA upscaler.” The producer also spoke about more of the technology being used in order to enhance visual fidelity for F1 25, including the use of LiDAR scanning in order to more accurately model the game’s various racing tracks and the surrounding flora and audiences. The studio plans on making use of PSSR even more thoroughly for its next title to try and get an even higher degree of visual fidelity on the PS5 Pro. “As we go into F1 25 with broadly the same solution as F1 24, we get the benefit of that same quality, just with far more LIDAR tracks to see the increased density and uplift that the Quality mode provides,” said Lumb. “Moving forward, and without anything specific to announce, we look forward to exploring what other areas of our title we can leverage technologies like PSSR to achieve new targets of visual quality on console hardware.” In the same interview, Lumb, along with creative director Gavin Cooper, had revealed quite a few details about the upcoming F1 25, including some of the new My Team features, the evolution of the Braking Point story mode, and updates to the game’s handling and physics system. F1 25 is coming to PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S on May 30. The title will mark the return of the Braking Point storyline, and will aim for high levels of visual fidelity on PC through path tracing. For more details, here is everything you need to know about the game.

But it has nothing to reveal right now.Switch 2 is going to be packing a lot more horsepower under the hood and it's already attracted certain third-party franchises from Electronic Arts that have been skipping Nintendo platforms for years. With this in mind, Codemasters is considering if the new hybrid system could be a "good fit" for its Formula One series.Speaking to the sim racing website Traxion recently, F1 25's creative director Gavin Cooper mentioned how his team needs "some smart people" to first look at the new Nintendo system and see what it "can actually do and whether it's actually a good fit" for the F1 video game experience.Read the full article on nintendolife.com

Image: Zion Grassl / Nintendo LifeAnd we're back, once again, on the road to Mario Kart World - and we're in the final stretch. On the two previous laps we've looked at every console Mario Kart game from the Super NES up to the Wii. For this final go-round, we're looking at two console entries which span a massive 14-year period. MK8 got some significant expansions across two consoles, so we've split that into two separate sections. And if you're keen to hear more about Mario's non-console karting exploits, we'll take a quick look at those next week before starting our engines up for Mario Kart World on 5th June.Subscribe to Nintendo Life on YouTube813kWatch on YouTube This week's Nintendo developer interviews delved into the game in much more depth than the lacklustre Mario Kart Direct back in April, firing up our excitement once more. Once we've been able to leave the tracks, we wonder what it'll feel like to return to the restrictive circuits in these past games...but that's another article. Let's kick off this final lap with lucky number seven... Lap 1 - SMK, MK64 & Super Circuit Double Dash, DS, Wii Mario Kart 7 (2011) Image: Zion Grassl / Nintendo Life Ah yes, seven entries in and we finally arrive at the first numbered game in the series (pipe down, MK64). There was always something that made me laugh about this being called 'Mario Kart 7', made all the more hilarious by Mario Kart World not being called 'Mario Kart 9'. After cool names like Super Circuit and Double Dash!!, '7' felt decidedly uncool. Which is ironic because the game was anything but. Image: Nintendo Sure, it lacked the local multiplayer pull of the home console releases, but I got to drive a kart that could fly and go underwater, which I'd say is a fair trade-off. I distinctly remember driving around Cheep Cheep Lagoon for the first time and its aquatic appeal blowing my little mind. I played with the 3D slider cranked up to the max, you see, and drifting around that seaweed felt like the future. You know what else was cool? Customisable karts. I didn't particularly care for stats at the time and would instead set out to build the most horrific abomination ever committed to the track. Not getting to see my masterpiece was one of the main reasons why I rarely used the game's first-person driving mode — that and the fact that I tried it out in the back of the car once and it made me sick. - Jim Norman Standout tracks: DK Jungle, Rock Rock Mountain, Cheep Cheep Lagoon Fun fact: Despite the Nintendo Network servers shutting down in April 2024, it wasn't until November that year that the final Mario Kart 7 player finally crashed out of the last-standing game lobby. That's quite the victory lap! What does Mario Kart World take from this? Gliding has had a winged makeover in World, but it's the same fundamentals that we first saw in MK7. Underwater driving is another obvious one, although from what we've seen so far, racing atop the waves is the only option in MKW. The Fire Flower appears to still be going strong after making its series debut in the 3DS entry, though. What score would you give Mario Kart 7 (3DS)? (1,329 ratings) 10 - Outstanding14%9 - Excellent28%8 - Great35%7 - Good17%6 - Not Bad5%5 - Average1%4 - Poor1%3 - Bad  0%2 - Terrible  0%1 - Abysmal1% Mario Kart 8 (2014) Images: Gavin Lane / Nintendo Life, Nintendo There was an audible gasp when I told my colleagues that I'd spent more time playing Mario Kart 8 on Wii U than I have 8 Deluxe. It has nothing to do with preference — Deluxe is clearly the version to play now. But my life was pretty different between 2014 and 2017. Other than a few Virtual Console RPGs and Xenoblade X, Mario Kart 8 was one of the few games I actually played on the Wii U, a console I don't have a lot of love for otherwise. I was at university and barely in my 20s at that point; I also preferred playing stuff on the big screen, so I'd sort of skipped over MK7. Image: Nintendo 8's extravagantly bright courses and colourful worlds were like revisiting my childhood, except now we have anti-gravity and huge courses that look like they stretch for miles and miles. Gorgeous sky-high races and crowded city streets were back on the menu, and I got that old Mario Kart Wii feeling back. The biggest thing I remember was the downloadable content. Nintendo had been dabbling in DLC for a few years then, but I was still a sceptical student who only wanted to spend money on things I thought I would love. Then, Mario Kart 8 dangled the ol' Animal Crossing carrot. Oh gosh. Look, a free Mercedes-Benz was all well and good (though a bit weird), but Zelda, Animal Crossing, and F-Zero courses coming to a Mario Kart game? It's like Smash Bros. but Mario Kart. Oh, Baby Park's back? No, thank you - Hyrule Circuit awaits. I really like all of the DLC courses, but I admit I was a little disappointed by the Animal Crossing one. It's a little basic and while the seasonal changes are beautiful, I'd have loved a little more variety in the course obstacles per season. The big surprise were the F-Zero ones, a series I never really got into. It took Mario Kart to make me want a new F-Zero game. Big Blue on 200cc? It's pure magic. - Alana Hagues Standout tracks: Toad Harbour, Sunshine Airport, Cloudtop Cruise, Big Blue (DLC) Fun fact: Firehopping, or frogging, was a common technique used online to maintain longer boosts from a mini-boost. Nintendo removed this in Deluxe, meaning it was probably an unintentional glitch. What does Mario Kart World take from this? Hmmm... okay, well, since 8 Deluxe is essentially MK8 but better, maybe let's save this... Second Lap It's natural that the Switch version has totally supplanted the original in most players' memories - which is why I was keen to break out the Wii U version in its own section here. Besides disappointment around the Battle offering, this was a substantial, massively satisfying racer with a fun anti-grav hook, and there's something homely and attractive about MK8 on that chunky GamePad minus the bloat and the 'more, more, MOAARRRR'. I say 'bloat' - the Deluxe additions were great, I just quite enjoy the comparative simplicity and 'strangeness' of this version after eight long years with the upgrade. Deluxe is better, but it was all armour over this game's brilliant body. Gavin Lane Editor, Nintendo Life What score would you give Mario Kart 8 (Wii U)? (1,085 ratings) 10 - Outstanding33%9 - Excellent42%8 - Great18%7 - Good5%6 - Not Bad1%5 - Average1%4 - Poor  0%3 - Bad  0%2 - Terrible  0%1 - Abysmal1% Mario Kart 8 Deluxe & Booster Course Pass (2017, 2022-2023) Image: Zion Grassl / Nintendo Life It's the best-selling game on the Switch, although I wonder where it stands in the Most Played rankings. Even if you were one of the Nintendo faithful who'd bought a Wii U and unlocked every Cup, got the DLC, and played MK8 to absolute death, you still had to buy 8 Deluxe. The proper Battle Mode and the ability to hold two items were major boons (although I still miss the strategy that comes with being able to switch between the items à la Double Dash), but it was really the convenience of having full-fledged Mario Kart on the go with two pads that made MK8D indispensable for any Switch owner. You just had to have it. Image: Zion Grassl / Nintendo Life It was interesting to hear the devs discuss "kicking the can down the road" and using the Booster Course Pass as a stopgap. Still, what a stopgap! 48 new tracks, with returning courses, some reimagined, some borrowed from Tour, a couple of totally new ones - with so many new courses, it was tough to get upset with the odd dud, especially if you were getting access to all these via an Expansion Pack sub. And the real-world locales added a different flavour to the mayhem - they generally weren't up there with the best of the other courses, but I liked seeing Nintendo's take on London and Madrid. Throw in all the oddities from before (I loved the amiibo Mii outfits), plus a host of new ones (Labo controls, anyone?) and no wonder it's taken Nintendo eight years to come up with a sequel. - Gavin Lane Standout tracks: Bone-Dry Dunes, Mount Wario, Yoshi's Island (DLC) Fun fact: As of 31st March 2025, this has sold 68.2 million copies and is Switch's best-selling game - that's 59.74 million copies more than the original sold on Wii U, although MK8 was also that system's bestseller. What does Mario Kart World take from this? In some ways it feels like the end of the road for old-style Mario Kart on self-contained tracks - MK8D's completeness gave Nintendo the impetus to push beyond the bounds of the circuits into a bigger world. You might even say a Mario Kart W— *blue shell explodes* What score would you give Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (Switch)? (2,863 ratings) 10 - Outstanding43%9 - Excellent34%8 - Great17%7 - Good4%6 - Not Bad1%5 - Average  0%4 - Poor  0%3 - Bad  0%2 - Terrible  0%1 - Abysmal1% Image: Nintendo And that brings us up to date!... Or does it? In fact, there are a few byways to travel before we hit the highway in Mario Kart World. Join us next week for a lap of honour where we take a quick look at the side-games and also-rans in the Mario Kart series. The sweat, the tears, the evil babies Related Games See Also Share:0 1 Gavin first wrote for Nintendo Life in 2018 before joining the site full-time the following year, rising through the ranks to become Editor. He can currently be found squashed beneath a Switch backlog the size of Normandy. Hold on there, you need to login to post a comment... Related Articles Shigeru Miyamoto Explains Why Donkey Kong Has Been Redesigned You want expressive? You got it Here's A Look At The Size And Inside Of Switch 2 Game Cases Arriving in store next month Talking Point: The Switch 2 Pre-Order Situation Sucks, But Can Nintendo Do Anything About It? 503sier said than done Random: Miyamoto Can't Talk About Switch 2, Talks About Switch 2 Anyway I do what I want, bruv!